Red Snow

The sun was barely rising over the horizon as a police car was driving up to the country after a strange call had been received at the Anchorage Police Department early that morning. The two cops that had been put to the task to handle the situation were not too happy about waking up to a call that was probably meaningless.

Detective Dover and his partner Detective Ronaldson were sipping their morning coffee in silence. Not a word was being uttered, just to savor the winter serenity of being away from civilization, or maybe because they were half asleep. The sun shined bright in the sky trying to take the cops out of their drowsy spell, and it worked.

Ronaldson broke the silence as the caffeine took effect. "Who was the crazy b****** that decided that this was a good time to wake up a guy with a gun?"

Dover laughed. "Michelle told me that it was that old farmer up north, Mr. Jenkins. He called about some animal or something in his crop fields."

Ronaldson raised his eyebrow. "Shouldn't he have called Animal Control?"

"I don't know. I just want to get this done with."

Dover, who was at the wheel, turned the curve that led to Mr. Jenkins farm. The white snow of the ending winter remained despite the warmer days of the coming summer. The sight of the snow was somehow peaceful, and the Alaskans had the luck of witness it.

Dover drove up to the front of the house and parked the vehicle.

"Isn't that Mr. Jenkins?" Ronaldson pointed out at the body that lay at the porch in a pool of blood.

"It is!" Dover said.

Both cops jumped out of the car with their guns already loaded in their hands. They approached Mr. Jenkins slowly just to make sure the creature wouldn't be made aware of the cops' presence if it was nearby.

When they were sure that the animal was gone from the scene, Dover rushed to the farmer's side. He began to retch and ran to throw up in between the trees at the side of the house. Ronaldson approached the body to see what had disgusted Dover.

The long bearded old man was sprawled out with a large hole in the center of his body. Blood was still spewing out of there, and some of Jenkins' organs seemed to have been forcibly pulled out... maybe by a mouth full of sharp teeth.

Being less squeamish then Dover, Ronaldson approached the body and checked for vital signs, even if what he had guessed was true.

Dover returned to the body out of breath, looked at it, and ran back toward the trees.

A loud, high-pitched scream sounded from the crops out back.

"Dover, let's go, now!" Ronaldson said.

"Yeah..." Dover said as he leaned on a tree trying to recover.

They went through the front door and went out through the back door. The back door's screen window was completely torn up and the door itself bore long claw marks.

The cops looked at the holes where spinach or cabbage plants had once been, but were probably consumed by the beast that had killed Mr. Jenkins. The extended crop held green, moist plants in rows, but no screaming person or wild, carnivorous beast. Another scream rang in the thick forest that surrounded the crop.

"It came from over there." Dover pointed to the wall of trees at the right side of the crop.

"Come on, let's go," Ronaldson said.

They ran into the woods. The tall trees cast a shadow over the forest as they searched for their damsel in distress and they had no idea where they were going.

"Do you hear anything?" Ronaldson asked.

"No, not a thing. Do you think it already got her?" Dover replied. "Wait..."

"Yeah, I hear something."

Footsteps were racing on the soft, wet earth. They sounded close, like they were coming in the direction of the cops.

"Help! Please help me!" screamed a woman.

A young, golden-haired woman. She was probably Mr. Jenkins daughter.

She ran towards the cops and almost tackled down Dover as she desperately hugged him.

As flattered as Dover was he pulled her aside and took out his gun along with Ronaldson.

"What was chasing after you ma'am?" Ronaldson questioned her.

"I don't know. It was an ugly thing, a very small ugly thing. But it followed my daddy up front. I tried to go through the back door but then when I was trying to run away through the back, it saw me and came after me."

"Where is it right now?" Dover asked.

"I don't know," she answered. "It was right on my tail."

A leaf fell down on Ronaldson's head. The leaves above them were rustling. Multiple hisses and growls were sounding from the treetops. When they looked up hundreds of glowing, red eyes were staring down at them.

"Holy s***" Dover said.

"Don't move a muscle," Ronaldson breathed out.

The girl turned around and ran screaming.

"Noooo!!!!" the cops yelled behind her.

And the beasts lunged towards them.

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